Blue Rain
by Ayaan Haa-san
Summary: Sasuke has returned and things have finally returned to normal with a little Sai to spice things up. But that all ends when a particular painful memories return and are played upon...
1. Prologue

A child's picture, faultless despite all faults. A gray cloud, a circle of

curlicues. Rain drops, streaks of blue.

The sound of grass shards shattering upon silver chimes. The patterning of

Tiny feet against echoing stones.

Little wet kisses, a loving child. She turns her face to them, savoring

the small finger that caress, the vulnerable tears that pain.

A roar.

A rush.

Lightning cracks her punishing whip against, thunders back and the world drowns.

But there is no rain, the gray eyes are spent from weeping. No more tears

A rainless storm.

Still, she stands, searching into the emptiness before and after.

Still, she stands, drenched by the _blue rain_.


	2. Chapter 1

AN: … This topic isn't all that random… (I guess)… but crazy enough, definitely…

Disclaimer:Naruto isn't mine (even though I wish it were)… it the grand whatever of Kishimoto-sensei (though I have often wondered what I WOULD do if I did own Naruto…)

Warning: Minor spoiler but nothing much other than a name.

---------

Rain makes everything more beautiful –

after rain, colors are brighter,

sunbeams more joyful,

and

air fresher

but

in a life of endless rain –

the purpose is forgotten

lost

in a chilling gray mist

which hangs over the

corpses

of people we once were

---------

Naruto yawned and rubbed his eyes at the sight of the late morning sun shining in the indow. He sighed. It was 9 o' clock on a Saturday morning. Who would want to wake up? With a nice, cozy bed and absolutely no parents to yell at you, who wouldn't want to sleep an entire Saturday away? But then again, he HAD promised Sakura, Sasuke, Sai and Kakashi a meeting at the bride. Now that they were jounnins, it seemed so very odd and quiet without the constant strain of missions. Besides, even Uchiha Sasuke had come back from chasing his beloved Orochimaru and had been promoted to the ranking of a jounnin! ("Can't believe how I ever thought of this guy as a brother," Naruto thought.) The blonde haired boy quickly changed into his loose, orange jump suit and peered over to see his calendar with a picture of a half-naked girl… His blue eyes widened in excitement. It was his fifteenth birthday, circled in bright red marker

"Score!" Naruto exclaimed. "Sasuke's going down today!"

"Shoot," he thought. He was already two hours late for their meeting and now his voice was cracking!… it was going to be a hell of a day….

---------

After being VERY late (may the author stress the VERY part), even later than Kakashi-sensei ("Wow, someone's even later than me? I thought that was MY trademark. My tardiness really must be contagious…"), Sakura gave him a beating.("Naruto, you idiot! punch on the head You're a jounnin for pete's sake! And you're late! slap across the face Why can't you be like Sasuke-kun?" " Sakura-chan! Don't compare me to him!").

Sasuke's inactivity and ignorance on the side-lines didn't help either ("Feminine bastard… his voice is still cracking? He's fifteen already!") Sai, on the other hand, was enjoying this view. ("Naruto actually looks hot when he gets beat up…")

Then, they all went to Ichamaru to celebrate Naruto's birthday and Sasuke's promotion. However, Naruto ended up with the bill in the end, due to the fact that he lost all ten games of Chinese poker ("Can I put a 3 of spades on top of a 2 of hearts, Sakura?"), go fish ("How do the rules go again?") and PIG ("Why is everyone sticking out their tongue?") to Sakura and Kakashi (as usual, Sasuke absolutely refused to participate in these things…)

The bill looked somewhat like this:

Sakura 1 bowl of ramen + 2 cups of tea

Kakashi 2 bowls of ramen + 1 cup of tea

Sasuke 3 bowls of ramen + 2 cups of tea

Sai … erm… dunno

Naruto 10+ bowls of ramen ? cups of tea

"Why does it always have to be me?" Naruto whined to Sasuke, who was walking beside him. "No one even gave me presents!"

"Shut up, dobe, you're giving me a headache," Sasuke retorted and tossed Naruto a small box. Naruto ran over and almost hugged Sasuke, but then he remembered that Sasuke was there. The shorter boy's eyes widened in innocent confusion as his tan hands undid the straps around the package that had just been thrown at him.

"EH?" Naruto cried. "A dog collar?"

"I think it suits you well," Sasuke replied with mirth in his narrowed eyes.

"Teme! I am NOT a dog!" Naruto yelled at the Uchiha heir.

"Really? I beg to differ," Sasuke answered in the same sugary tone but this time in Naruto's ear. He then backed away, narrowed his eyes in a dark fashion and retained a cool, serious manner.

"EH? Sasuke, don't look at me like that!" Naruto screamed and ran in circles. Sasuke shot two kunais at his feet. Naruto screamed bloody murder as the two weapons landed two millimeters from his feet. At that moment, cloth that had been attached to the handles of the two throw knives unfurled.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NARUTO. AND YOU AREN'T WORTHY OF ME."

Naruto's face flattened at reading that message.

"So full of yourself you spoiled bastard!" the tan boy screamed. The corners of the ivory skinned boy darkened in mirth. (inserts girls' fainting right about HERE…)

"AHHH! Sasuke's smiling! The world is ending!" Naruto ran around screaming. Sasuke sighed and turned around in the other direction and began walking away. ("I do not know that insane kid.")

Suddenly, a tan hand inserted itself in the grasp of the unblemished ivory one. Clear blue eyes met dark ones. The tan boy in orange smiled childishly and the taller boy scowled as the two hands parted. At that moment, a cane prodded their backs. They turned around to see no one. Sasuke narrowed his eyes in annoyance at Naruto.

"It wasn't me!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Down here," a creaky voice called. The boys' heads dropped to see a decrepit, blind old woman about half their averaged height. ("There's someone shorter than me in the world! Hallelujah!" Naruto thought.)

"I've followed you around," she began. A sign with the word "STALKER" clearly written in bold letters suddenly appeared in the two jounnins minds. "I must admit, you are the best couple I've seen in a very long time."

"Ma'am," Naruto addressed the woman with much struggle (he had trouble finding the right words to properly address this personal stalker), "we're not a couple."

"Oh, pretty young lady, you are denying yourself of a fine, handsome young man," the old lady replied. She pulled his shirt collar so that his ear was near her mouth. "I can hear it by the voice. So tell me, is he hot? Does he have a nice body?"

Sasuke stood next to his alleged "lover" and hid his face. Being Naruto's teammate was enough torture but to be associated with him as his lover was way over the top. Naruto suddenly shrieked.

"Lady, you got it all wrong, WE ARE NOT A COUPLE!" Naruto cried. The old woman caught ahold of both of their hands.

"Ah, denial, the first signs of romance and the first thing that happens when you get into a heated relationship," the lady shook her head and softly cackled. "I shall open your minds to each other so that you can see that you are absolute soul mates."

Naruto and Sasuke reluctantly gave in. ("Anything to get this old hag to stop stalking us and leave us ALONE!" they both thought.) The lady began to sing and then mumble.

"And now you two are one!" she cried after five minutes. "Happy marriage!"

At that, she hobbled away and was lost in the night crowd of lovers at the festival in town.

"Open my mind my ass," Naruto thought. "Sasuke-teme is an idiot who is self-conceited and only loves himself. What girl would want him?"

"I heard that dobe," Sasuke muttered.

"I didn't say anything."

"Tch, you call insulting your superior not talking?"

"Superior? My ASS!"

Naruto stuck out his tongue and pouted.

"Heh, I'm his superior and he knows it. He kinda looks cute when he does that," Sasuke thought.

"Would you stop saying perverted things, teme?"

"You're hallucinating, dobe. I didn't say anything."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at him.

"Wow, I never knew Sasuke actually looked that hot. I mean he looked better than Sai but he's that hot!" Naruto thought.

"Oh, who's saying perverted things now?"

"I didn't say anything! But I did think that…"

And the light bulb suddenly goes off. Sasuke and Naruto's eyes widen in disgust.

"I'm telepathically connected to YOU?" they both said at the same time, pointing their fingers at each other.

"It's all your fault, Naruto," Sasuke yelled.

"ME?" Naruto questioned. "Who's the one made that perverted homosexual joke before?"

"Hey, it was insert name here's idea!" Sasuke complained.

"Whodahellisthat?" Naruto asked. The air current shifted.

---------

A young girl quickly bounded from tree to tree. One by one, she pulled out the kunais that protruded from the severe wound on her right leg and put them in her pocket for later use.

"Damnit," she muttered as she spot two shinobi in the clearing in the woods. One clothed in orange and black as the other was in blue. The one clothed in orange was perfectly tanned while the other boy looked like a perfect porcelain doll.

The girl stopped to take her breath and passed out for a split second. Suddenly, the branch gave way as she snapped back into consciousness.

---------

A tree branch fell from the tall trees near the clearing where Naruto and Sasuke had stopped. The two jounnins muscles tensed at the sound and warily towards the source of the commotion.

The dust cleared way and a bloody mess was seen all around a girl with silver streaked bangs in light blue. Naruto stepped forward to help her but Sasuke halted him in mid step. Slowly, the female rose to her feet and wiped the blood away from her face. Their eyes met.

Her features seemed vaguely familiar to Sasuke as his dark eyes met the gray ones of the stranger. A chill ran down his spine. Raw power, lust for revenge and loneliness mingled in her gaze, things only he would recognize.

"A perfect mirror," he thought.

Naruto was confused by the aura his teammate let off. He finally turned his head to face their new arrival.

"GYAHHHHH! Haku!" Naruto yelled. "He has come from the dead!"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed in suspicion at the reminder of the deadly and loyal tool of Zabuza of Hidden Mist in their first out of country mission. His eyes caught upon the glint of the metal plated headband around the girl's neck. Hidden Mist.

---------

The girl looked at the "porcelain doll" boy. The moment their eyes met, his dark unnerving eyes seemed to read her soul. She shuddered as it pierced her. The blond haired boy had mentioned the name Haku. How that name wrenched her heart.

"I can't spend time with these fools," she thought. "I need to find Haku. Not with a clown who had his butt handed to him by my brother."

---------

A missing nin of Hidden Mist in Konoha. Now that sounded odd, because it should. Naruto wouldn't let up on his panic and Sasuke's instinct tugged at his senses to fight. At the same time, the stranger and the Uchiha heir leapt in the air at each other.

They met with a clash of kunais. The stranger instantly dropped from flight and nearly touched the ground before meeting Sasuke's foot in Konoha Repuu. Sasuke quickly formed hand seals to execute the jutsu Kage Buyou (Shadow Leaf Dance) under her. As her neared her body, the girl's body recovered from the shock and bent around the hand, avoiding contact with him and kicked him on the right cheek before revealing a hidden fist.

The Uchiha received the fist in his own hand and twisted his arm around her so that the fist was held against her back. Holding her steadfast in an unbreakable position, his palm hit her body, completing his previous jutsu. Her body suddenly went rigid before her complexion changed from shock to complacency. With a kunai wet with her blood, she threw it towards the ground and performed one one-handed seal. With that, she kicked him towards the ground as the kunai she had sent down exploded.

When the dust cleared, Naruto ran to Sasuke who rose from the ground. Opposite the clearing, the stranger landed in pain and coughed blood from her mouth. Sasuke immediately pushed off the ground at her. He aimed to kill the girl, whoever she could be. She held the resemblance to the one who defeated him and proved to him that he was weak. That was then, this is now and he aimed to show how much he had improved.

"Sasuke!" Naruto cried. "Don't hurt him!"

The girl had been expecting the final blow from the dark haired boy. She closed her eyes but when she felt nothing, her face was against the chest of the orange clothed boy.

"What the hell are you doing?" Sasuke exclaimed.

"It's Haku!" Naruto answered turning to the girl in his arms only to find no one there. He looked around in confusing as Sasuke sighed in disgust.

"Hey," the stranger replied, helping herself to the water from Naruto's pack.

"Haku, get out of there!" Naruto exclaimed, treating the Haku-look-alike like a child. The girl stuck out her tongue at him.

"Yo, I HAVE a name, you know," she yelled. "I'm not Haku. That's my brother."

"Haku has a sister?" Sasuke and Naruto cried at once.

"No, of course he doesn't. And of course that's why she's standing in front of you," she retorted, taking a gulp out of the water bottle she had stolen.

"Likely story," Sasuke replied.

"Really? Would you like some proof?" the girl said, holding up three ice needles in her hand ready for battle. Trademarks of the Hidden Mist Advanced Blood Line.

"That isn't necessary, Haku," Naruto laughed nervously as he stepped between the two.

"My name is not Haku! It's Sei," Sei replied with anger. "How badly did my brother whoop your ass for you to remember him so avidly?"

"What are you talking about? We kicked his ass!" Naruto exclaimed. "Well actually, he was owning us for the most part. Sasuke almost was killed…"

"We don't need to go there, Naruto," Sasuke interrupted. "Dobe."

"I am not a dobe!" Naruto muttered through gritted teeth.

"Tch, that'll be the day I die," Sasuke retorted.

"Look, I don't need details, but where is my brother," Sei cut in. "It's obvious that you guys have met."

Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other. _So she doesn't know._ Naruto's blue eyes darkened in concern.

"Um… er…" Naruto started. _How am I going to break it to her?_

"Sei, Haku died," Sasuke stated, coldly.

Sei was speechless before Naruto started to yell at Sasuke.

"Teme, nice going!"

"She needed to know!"

"I know that but you could have at least said it with more sympathy!"

"Sympathy? There is no other way we could have broke it to her!"

Sei watched with much boredom as the two verbally fought. Even girls' catfights were more amusing, partially because they got physical sometimes.

"Yo, still here," Sei drawled. Naruto looked up and smiled at her. Sasuke glared daggers at Naruto. If only looks could kill.

"Aren't you a bit … disturbed? I mean, your brother was killed saving Zabuza," Naruto blurted out in the silence. Sei looked distraught for a moment. _Zabuza… you gave your heart to Zabuza, your master._

"Sei…"

"No, not a bit, Naruto" the girl replied as she smiled at Naruto. But Sasuke knew different. _It wrenches her heart. She was looking for him. _

Sei knew that the boy named Sasuke was reading her, prying deep into thoughts she knew she needed to close the book on right now. She had revealed far too much to him. But something kept her heart planted in his hands…

The wind rustled the leaves above. Sei winced when the wind hit her wounds. She needed to go.

"I… I hear someone coming," she muttered and disappeared.

"Wait!" Naruto called out, but she was already gone. Sasuke just stared at the now empty space that she once occupied. _Cheap excuse. _

---------

_Haku is dead._ Sei thought as she rested near a stream. She picked up her belongings after bandaging the wounded areas. _So everything I heard was true…_

---------

"Shit!" Naruto yelled. "Why did you let Sei go?"

"Me? Look at yourself," Sasuke replied.

"She was a missing nin! God, Tsunade's gonna have our heads!"

Sasuke tried hard to ignore the comment but the thought of that homicidal insane lady angry sent frightened him.

"We need to find her!" Naruto exclaimed, shaking Sasuke by the shoulders.

"One – get off me, two – if you knew where she is that would be helpful. She could be ANYWHERE by now!" Sasuke replied, agitated. In the awkward silence, Naruto's stomach grumbled. The blond haired boy laughed.

"She's probably in town eating," Naruto suggested, trying to find an excuse to eat. Sasuke sighed and followed but half-heartedly agreed with him.

---------

Naruto slurped his miso ramen soup as Sasuke swirled his tea mug.

"AHHH!" Naruto exclaimed, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. "Now let's look for Sei."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. _About time, she has probably left by now, dobe._

"Hey, teme, you'd better thank me when I save you form Tsunade," Naruto yelled.

"Not likely," Sasuke said, making thumbs up sign then turning his thumb downwards (heh, hua ze lei's thing).

Naruto huffed and took out a piece of paper and began to draw something.

"Now's not the time for art class, dobe," the Uchiha said.

"Shaddup and wait," Naruto mumbled as he furiously attacked the paper. "Done!"

Naruto smiled and turned the piece of paper towards Sasuke.

"See, it's a picture of Sei so that everyone can see what she looks like!" the younger boy replied happily.

"A picture? It looks like a one year old drew that!" Sasuke exclaimed.

"What? It's a piece of artwork. Teme, you have no sense of artisticness…"

"That's not a word…"

"Ugh, whateverrrrr." in the prep girl way

"I'll show you what a real drawing is."

Sasuke then took his own piece of paper and attacked it at full force with the pencil. Within moments, he put down his pencil and confidently showed it to Naruto.

"That's a stick figure!"

"Better than your blob."

"Don't go there. (snaps fingers in Z formation) It is so not."

"Fine, we'll let that kid settle it."

"Fine."

Naruto pulled over a random kid playing with a car on the side of the store.

"Hey kid, which drawing is better?" Naruto asked, holding the pictures in front of him.

"Umm… what are the pictures of? They look like blobs to me. Did a little kid draw them?" the kid replied. Naruto walked away in disgust.

"What did he say? Probably said mine was better," Sasuke smugly confided Naruto.

"The kid has no sense of artisticness…" Naruto answered with an arrogant sigh, "or he would have chosen mine."

"Ha! I won," Sasuke smirked.

"The kid said it looked like a monster…" Naruto giggled.

"He said that yours looked like a monster too," Sasuke airily spoke, reading Naruto's mind. _Can't escape me now._

Naruto stuck his tongue out at Sasuke. _Darn it._

--------

Sei sat on a tree branch near the clearing where she had met Naruto and Sasuke. The image of the Uchiha heir burned in her mind. He had read her every thought and emotion; that freaked her out, but at the same time, she wanted to see him once more. And then there was Naruto, who reminded her of her own self. She looked at the full moon as her leg swung back and forth off the branch.

"Haku, look, the moon is full!" a two-year old Sei exclaimed holding a young boy's hand.

"_That's right, Sei," the five year old Haku replied._

"_It looks like the big cookie that mommy gave me!" Sei smiled. _

"_Did you know that there is a lady on the moon?" Haku asked his younger sister. Sei looked at him with confusion. He smiled. "The lady looks at us and protects us."_

"_Really?" the little girl inquired._

"_Yup, she's watching us right now!" the boy replied and pointed at the sky. "See? Look at that!"_

_Just then, a shooting star flew across the sky. The little girl's eyes were round with excitement. _

"_I'll be with you forever, right, Haku?" Sei asked, hugging her brother._

"_Yup," he whispered._

"_Promise?" _

"_I promise."_

"Then where are you now?" Sei choked quietly into the darkness of the night. "Where are you now?"

She wished she could see Haku again and never let him out of her sight.

--------

Naruto rummaged through him pockets to find his house keys. Sasuke and himself had spent the entire afternoon looking for Sei. He didn't want to admit it, but she was pretty considering that she looked like a clone of Haku with longer hair and silver streaked bangs. But then again, it was just that that freaked him out.

"Dobe, can't you even find your keys?" Sasuke asked impatiently beside him. Naruto had forgotten the present he was going to give to Sasuke for his promotion at home and had asked Sasuke to come home with him. Sasuke agreed but now he was beginning to regret his decision.

"Shaddup, just gimme a few seconds," Naruto said, checking his back pocket. _Here it is…_

Naruto shoved the key into the doorknob and unlocked the door.

"SURPRISE!" Iruka called out when he entered the door, holding a frosted cake.

"AH! Iruka-sensei, don't' scare me like that!" Naruto complained.

"Happy Birthday!" Iruka went on, hugging Naruto.

"Thank you, but would you please take off that pink apron you're wearing?" Naruto pleaded.

"Yo!" a voice called from the window. Naruto swirled around to find his silver haired teacher sitting on the windowsill.

"What are you doing here?" the blond boy asked. "And no sitting on my windowsill!"

"For someone special," Kakashi replied with a wink directed towards Iruka who flamed red.

"Both of you, get out, I have some business to finish with Sasuke," Naruto huffed.

"What? Don't you want my cake?" Iruka cried.

"Later," the short boy answered as Kakashi guided the other sensei out the door and closed it behind him.

"Hmm, I never thought that Sasuke and Naruto would," Kakashi confided after exiting.

"Kakashi! Iruka scolded.

"I speak only the truth," the silver haired man replied, trying to sound teacher like.

"My Naruto's growing up!" Iruka cried in a motherly fashion.

"You know, you look kinda cute in that pink apron," Kakashi whispered.

"Kakashi!"

--------

Sasuke lay in bed in his pajamas. After his little talk with Naruto at his house, he walked home and took a shower. All the while, his mind reverted back to Sei. He _needed_ to find her. Part of the reason was to save his head from decapitation from Tsunade. The other part came from the fissure she had left in him. He didn't know what it came from. Perhaps because she was strong or becuase she was Haku's sister; he didn't know for sure but he felt obligated to find her. Naruto sympathized.

_tsuzuku_


End file.
